AvG. 2, 2 886. J 



tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



8i 



— — ♦- - 



To the Editor of the " Cenlon Observer." 

 FIBRES AND THE FIBRE TRADE. 



Paris, 1-lth May 1886. 



Dear Sirs, — As you are so well connected with 

 tropical agriculture, would you be in a position 

 to get me the so-called Chinese Mulberry Bark 

 (like post sample, I send you herewith) in large 

 monthly quantity at fair merchantable value. If so, 

 kindly place me into communication with some 

 of your friends, or, if the trouble is not too great, 

 shall be thankful to receive your personal commun- 

 ication on this subject. My sons, Messrs. Edgar 

 and Gaston Heymans, established " General Merch- 

 ants " at Hai-Phong (Tonkin) have not been able 

 to procure me any from their locality. If you 

 could find some other textile plants equally fibrous 

 your samples and particulars shall have my very best 

 attention and may lead to a large trade. — Yours 

 obediently, EDWARD HEYMANS. 



[Planters and others interested can see the 

 sample sent to us at our office. The Mulberry 

 Bark of China is of the White Mulberry {Moms 

 alba), which was early introduced into Europe, 

 and has now almost superseded M. nigra for the 

 feeding of silkworms. Neither Ceylon nor India has 

 any for export we suspect. — Ed.] 



immediate rise in the value of their better barks, 

 a consummation which, we venture to think, would 

 be very acceptable in these times of low prices.— 

 Wc are, dear sir, yours truly, 



ARMITAGE, fry & Co. 



MR. JACKSON'S TEA MACHINERY. 



London, 1st June 1886. 



Dear Sir, — In Vol. V., page 81.5, a letter 

 appears by Mr. James Irvine in which the following 

 somewhat sweeping statement appears : — 



" All our Tea Dryers in use rapidly wear 

 and are not only costly to repair, but, as in the 

 T Sirocco, the whole of the machine has to be 

 taken to pieces to replace the burned plates." Will 

 you kindly allow me to point out to your readers 

 that there arc no plates in our Victoria and Vene- 

 tian Tea Dryers which come in contact with the 

 flame, the heating surface being multitubular, and 

 it is a well-kuowu fact that cast-iron tubes liavc 

 stood ni'iht (iiid dnij work for five years in England, 

 heating air to 1,000 deg. for blast furnace purposes. 



Our Victoria Dryers have been at work for 

 three years in Assam, and not a tube has burned 

 through yet, and when last examined there was 

 nothing to indicate the near approach of such a 

 mishap. 



Certainly none of our stoves in Ceylon or Assam 

 have had to be replaced in any way. Our Tea 

 Rollers in Assam are some of them sixteen 

 years old and doing good work yet, and I trust I 

 shall yet have the pleasure of saying the same of 

 our dryers. 



I should be pleased therefore if your correspon- 

 dent will allow them a fair trial prior to passing 

 judgment. — I am, dear sir, yours truly, 



WILLIAM JACKSON. 



THE CINCHONA BARK MARKET. 



3, Crosby Square, London, E.G., 4th June 1886. 



Dear Sir, — In calling your attention to the en- 

 closed extract from the Planter:;^ Gizctte we would 

 remark that if planters could be induced, for a 

 time, to cease producing Branch Bark, which can 

 leave little (if any) profit to them at present rates, 

 and is to the advantage only of those who pack, 

 carry and soil it for them, the resJuU would be an 

 11 



The Market for Cinchona Bark and Quinine. 



So far the hopes entertained that the present year 

 would see an improvement in the value of quinine and 

 cinchona bark bave not been verified. Indeed tbe re- 

 sults of the last auction bave revealed a level of prices 

 previously unknown. The official quotation for bark 

 amounts to no more than 3id to 4id per unit. We 

 must go back to August and "September of 1883, to find 

 the parallel ajiproaching such a quotation. Then how- 

 ever, the price of quinine was quoted at 8s to 8s (Jd 

 per oz. against 2s Od for GermaH tin and 3s for Ho- 

 ward's in oz. bottles at the present time. lu both in- 

 stances the primary cause can be traced to excessive 

 supplies of bark frcn Ceylon, although the crisis of 

 1883 was intensified by the celebrated ring of quinine 

 manufacturers, who had bound themselves under a 

 heavy penalty not to sell the manufactured article under 

 a cert:au price. The breaking up of that rhig aud the 

 consequent improvement in the trade in the early 

 part of 1884 are matters of history well known to those 

 interested in this important branch of trade. In tho 

 present instance the low price of quinine is due to 

 an entire absence of speculative demand in Eui-ope 

 and especially in America. The American demand so 

 long looked for, showed signs of springing up in the 

 early part of last month, but died away again im- 

 mediately, some say owing to the unsettled state of 

 the country consequent on the strikes, capitalists not 

 caring to engage in outside speculations with an un- 

 certain political future. In this country the iniquitous 

 prices asked for quinine by the retail traders have 

 quite prevented any general dissemination of the 

 article, which people natui-ally supposed would be the 

 result when a low range of prices was fully established. 



Medical men can scarcely be aware of the extremely 

 low rates ruling for quinine in the wholesale market, 

 or they would not refrain from prescribing it on eco- 

 nomical grounds, as too often happens. At present, 

 as is the case with meat and bread, no one except the 

 middle 'men arc deriving any benefit from the un- 

 precedented cheapness of the article. Until this matter 

 is more fully gone into, and requisite retail conij^cti- 

 tion secured, or else the prPi)osterous charges now 

 ruling fully exposed throughout this country, many of 

 those in dire need of its beneficial effects are destined 

 to be deprived of what is theirs by every right of min, 

 through the self-seeking monopolists, who are not 

 content with a profit of less than 150 per cent on the 

 retail of this article alone. 



The statistical position of the rav/ article is by no 

 means unfavorable comparatively. January, 1880, 

 opened with a stock of 62,2 17 packages of all barks, 

 against 80,874 packages at the corresponding period of 

 the previous year, and although the export from Ceylon 

 shows an increase at the end of April of some three 

 million lb. over that of the previous year at the .'ame 

 dati^ the stocks in London at that date were 03,951 

 packages against 78,!I25 in 1885, and 99,010 packages 

 in 1884. The deliveries for the first four months of 

 the present year amount to 21.100 packages against 

 18,634 packages in 1885, and 20,094 paekagts in 1S84 ; 

 the total lau'iings for these months being ■2l',S04 pack- 

 ages. It is unlikely that the present depression in 

 quinine and bark will be of long duration. It ban its 

 origin from one or two causes, as specified above, the 

 result of which will so re-act on both raw and 

 manufactured articles as to curtail the supply, and so 

 with the increased demand which time is sure to show, 

 we may look for steady and progrefsive maikefs later 

 on in tiie year. At the same time shippers should be 

 warned of the necessity of checking their supplies ai^ 

 much as possible until the market has time to right 

 itself. 



